


Blame it on The Hedgehog

by Skrigget



Series: Are we related? [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Feels, Fluff and Humor, Kid Fic, Kid!Isaac, Lydia Martin & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Multi, One Big Happy Family, Panic Attacks, Statutory Rape, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 09:04:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3563987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skrigget/pseuds/Skrigget
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s perfectly normal, Stiles argues, even if it feels like he’s slowly going insane. Because Derek is right there and he can’t freaking reach out and touch him and he’s going to lose his mind. He’s managed five days – five freaking long days! – when he finally explodes. </p><p>In hindsight it wasn’t his best idea but he was desperate. </p><p>or: how NOT to tell your dad you're in love with his stepson </p><p>(Part of the "are we related"-verse but can be read on it's own - as always)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blame it on The Hedgehog

**Author's Note:**

> So here's another one!! 
> 
> I'm sorry it took me so long to write this! I know i promised to update another oneshot soon and it's been almost a months (holy frack!) since i uploaded Family Dinner Failure and I am sorry! I hope you can forgive me. 
> 
> The scene with the sheriff and Stiles (you'll know which one I mean) is inspired by a gifset I saw on tumblr a long time ago. 
> 
> And the whole Hedgehog-cage-fire-thing? That shit actually happened in my town, just saying. 
> 
> This is part of a verse and is a follow-up to Family Dinner Failure but it can, as always, be read on it's own. 
> 
> The ages (as always) are: 
> 
> Isaac = 7  
> Derek and Boyd = 22  
> Stiles, Scott and Lydia= 17  
> Allison = 18  
> Cora and Malia = 5

Stiles is woken up at six-thirty by his phone that’s ringing loud and fucking clear. He groans and trashes around in his bed, his arms flying widely as he searches manically for the little piece of shit that’s currently blasting ‘I’m a Barbie girl’ loud enough to wake everyone in the house. Finally his hand closes around the phone and he somehow – he’s not exactly sure how – also manages to press the right button and put the phone up to his ear.

“What?” he half-groans, half-slurs to whoever is on the other end.

“I got a problem,” a familiar voice tells him.

“No you don’t,” Stiles’ mumbles, already half-asleep. “It’s six in the freaking morning, people don’t have problem this early on a Saturday.”

“It’s Monday.”

Stiles finally opens his eyes, removes the phone from his ear to check the date and sighs heavily. “I don’t like you,” he informs Derek as he pulls his covers off and sits up in the bed. “I really, really don’t.”

“Well,” Derek, Stiles’ stepbrother and boyfriend, says, “then you’ll only not like me more when I tell you I need you to come and pick me up.”

“What? Why? Did something happen?”

“Sort of,” Derek says vaguely. “Please take it easy Stiles.”

“What happened?” he demands to be told as he stands up, sways uncertainly and takes a step forward towards his jeans on the floor.

“There was a fire.”

Stiles stops dead in his track and for a long, terrifying second he isn’t breathing. Then he practically screams: “ _What?!_ ”

Derek winces on the other end of the phone and waits for Stiles to take a few long, calming breaths before he repeats: “Please take it easy and calm down. It wasn’t anything serious, I’m fine. Everyone’s fine.”

“But – a fire? A freaking fire, Derek?”

“Yes, calm down – “

“Don’t tell me to calm down, you could’ve died!”

Stiles can actually hear Derek roll his eyes. “Could not,” he argues. “Please, there was a fire in some dude’s hedgehog’s cage – “

“Oh my god,” Stiles says, “are you serious?”

 “Deadly.” Derek sighs. “Can you please just come and pick me up? I’m freezing.”

“You’re not,” Stiles snorts. “It still summer – “

“It’s October, though, so it really isn’t.”

“Fine!” Stiles sighs and grabs a t-shirt on his way out of the door. “I’ll be there in twenty if all the lights are green. Hey, maybe I should wake up dad, have him use the police car, we’d get their faster.”

“Don’t,” Derek warns him. “They’ll just make a big deal out of this. Kinda like you were doing three seconds ago.”

Stiles barely contains a very loud, very sarcastic snort. “There was a fire, excuse me for caring about your wellbeing, jackass.”

“Can you please just hurry?”

“Yes, fine, I said I’m on my way already!”

“See ya.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Just as he’s about to hang up on the older male he hears a quick but certain “I love you” from the other end of the line.

Stiles can feel his lips twist and he can’t help but smiles stupidly. He’s standing in a dark hallway, half-dressed, half-asleep, wearing one sock and talking to his stepbrother and he can’t stop smiling.

“I know,” he says, “I love you too.”

\--

In the end he ends up bringing Scott with him because a) it’s a semi-long drive he doesn’t want to do on his own when he’s still not properly awake and b) Scott has woken him plenty of times to either talk about Allison, get a lift to Allison’s or something else Allison-related so Scott sort of really owes him. That doesn’t stop him from complaining the whole way there, however, and Stiles has to turn the music up ridiculously loud in order to shut him out.

“Why would he even call _you_?” Scott complaints and groans for the millionth time.

Stiles glares at his stepbrother and best friend out of the corner of his eyes. At first Scott doesn’t seem to get why Stiles is staring at him and then his eyes widen and he quickly says: “Sorry, bro, I didn’t mean that, you know, it’s just I forget that you and Derek are, you know, dating or whatever and it’s – “

“Scott, dude, it’s okay,” Stiles says because it _is_ okay that Scott still forgets sometimes that Derek and Stiles are _a thing_. He’s known for a little over a month. It wasn’t that Stiles and Derek had planned on telling Scott about them it was more that he walked in on them kissing and freaked out. Ever since Scott’s been a huge support for both Stiles and Derek. At first Stiles was terrified Scott wouldn’t be okay with it. Stiles, Scott, Derek and Laura have been siblings since their parents got married when Stiles and Scott were ten, Derek fourteen and Laura seventeen. It’s been seven years – almost eight – since then. Melissa and John have managed to adopt Isaac, get two lovely grandchildren and not go insane, Stiles admires them greatly. Point is, if Scott had a problem with his stepbrother and his brother dating that would be a huge deal for Stiles and Derek. Luckily, Scott is onboard and that’s all that matters. The only other three people who know about them are Allison, Lydia and Boyd. Other than that everyone just thinks they’re brothers and nothing more.

“I didn’t mean to imply – “

“You weren’t implying anything, Scotty-boy, take it easy.”

Scott smiles gratefully and turns the music down. “So, a fire? Really?”

“Yeah,” Stiles sighs. “I’m sorta worried about him.”

“You mean the whole deal with his aunt Talia?” Scott wonders and Stiles nods.

Derek and Laura’s aunt Talia lost her son and husband in a fire several years ago even before Melissa divorced Peter. 

“He’s gonna be fine, trust me,” Scott says.

“Yeah,” Stiles mumbles. “You’re right.”

“I always am,” Scott smirks.

Stiles snorts loudly. “Oh, like the time you thought it was a good idea to stay at Allison’s for the night because her parents were, what, out for the Weekend?”

Scott pales at the memory before he turns bright red and then furrows his eyebrows. “We promised never to talk about that.”

“No, you told me not to talk about it ever again, I never signed any contract,” Stiles smirks. “God, I wish I could’ve seen her dad in the face when he came home and – “

“Please, shut up, I beg you, please.”

“Weren’t those kind of the words you were muttering when Mr. Argent opened the door and you and Allison – “

“Stiles!”

\--

There are firemen and fire engines all around the building. On the parking lot surrounding the building there are people, looking at the smoking building, talking to one another. Everyone has a bag under their arm and all of them are wearing pajamas and a coat, clearly having been showed out of their apartments in a rush.

Stiles parks the jeep on the other side of the road and Scott and him cross to the other side. Stiles spots Derek pretty easily. He’s talking to a brunette, only wearing a pair of jeans, a pajamas t-shirt and his jacket.

“Hey,” Stiles calls as they pass a group of firemen. “Der – “

He cuts himself off abruptly when he notices who the other male is talking to. His ex-girlfriend Jennifer.

“Stiles, anything wrong?” Scott asks. “Come on.”

“Yeah,” Stiles grumbles and follows his best friend to their brother.

When Derek spots them he smiles but Stiles doesn’t return it right away. He wants the time to glare at Jennifer whom he really doesn’t like for obvious reasons.

When Derek notices who Stiles is glaring at he shoots him an apologetic look and Stiles sighs. He can’ be mad at Derek when he looks as pathetic as he does in that moment.

“Hey there, D.” Scott pats Derek on the arm and Derek pulls him in for a hug.

“Derek,” Stiles greets. Derek rolls his eyes and also hugs Stiles tight.

God, he missed him. He missed his smell, his arms, his breath, his fingers, everything about him.

“Hey,” Derek mumbles against Stiles’ hair.

Stiles closes his eyes and enjoys it for a brief second before he steps back.

“Stiles right?” Jennifer says. “We’ve met before, when you were staying at Derek’s this summer?”

Stiles inhales sharply before he gives her his best smile. “Oh, yeah, I remember. Paige, right?”

Derek rolls his eyes behind Jennifer’s back but Stiles pretends not to notice. Jennifer’s bright smile falters for a second before it’s back on just as strong as before.

“No, I’m Jennifer, how are you?”

Stiles barely manages not to growl. “I’m fine, what about you?”

“Oh,” she says and puts a hand over her heart, “I’m terrified. This whole fire thing? God, it really gets to you doesn’t it, I’m kinds freaking out.” She laughs slightly hysterically before she makes some weird sound like she’s on the verge of tears. Scott looks slightly confused, Derek looks like he wants to sleep for years and Stiles is still glaring at her but also giving her his brightest smile. “Oh,” she says, “didn’t Derek tell you? I moved in next door to him!”

Somehow Stiles’ smile doesn’t falter one bit, in fact it only turns brighter and more sincere. “Really? No, must’ve slipped his mind. Now, we’ve got to get going, lots of things to do. See you later, Paige.”

Before Jennifer has time to correct him Derek’s pushed past her and is guiding Stiles with a firm grip on his shoulder towards the jeep. Scott is trailing behind them, without a doubt rethinking his whole policy on the “stepbrother-and-brother” dating thing.

Inside the jeep Stiles sighs and Derek follows suit.

“Sorry,” Stiles says. “I really just don’t like her, that’s all.”

“It’s okay, I should’ve told you she’d moved in.”

Stiles looks at his boyfriend and smiles before he leans over and places a quick kiss on his lips. “It’s fine. Are you okay though?”

“Yeah,” Derek nods. “Just fine. We should probably get going, it’s seven o’clock and you have to be in school in an hour.”

“Don’t remind me,” Scott begs. “We have a history test today.”

“We do?” Stiles asks.

“Yeah,” Scott groans. “On the Cold War.”

“Nah,” Stiles says, “it’s not so hard. There were a lot of weapons and men comparing their the seize of their dick. Uh, and there was a totally awesome song. You know, about the Russians. How is it again? Oh yeah. _Duck and cover_!”

Derek laughs, Scott groans and Stiles continues singing.

\--

Their little adventure has not gone unnoticed but rather from being worried Melissa and John are not too thrilled their sons decided to leave in the dead of the morning without telling anyone, hoping to come home before anyone would notice their absent. They are not that lucky.

As soon as they’re in the hallway Melissa appears from the kitchen, wearing a deep frown and her arms crossed. When she sees Derek, however, both her eyebrows shoot up in her forehead and she gives Scott and Stiles each a bewildered look.

“Hey, mom,” Derek says.

“Hey, babe,” she says. “What are you doing here?”

And then before he has the time to actually answer her very valid question she turns to her two other sons and says: “And why were you not in your beds when I went to wake you up thirty minutes ago, young men?”

“Well,” Stiles says and runs a hand through his hair. He needs a haircut. He adds it too his mental to-do-list. “Well,” he repeats. “It’s my fault really, I told Scott to accompany me.”

“Well, it was only fair,” Scott shrugs, “given the amount of times I’ve woken you up in the middle of the night to – “

“Cuddle,” Stiles interrupts the other boy sharply. “We cuddle, right, buddy?”

Scott looks puzzled, Derek looks amused and Melissa looks vaguely annoyed. “To return to my original question, boys, what were you doing out of bed that early? And why are you here? Did something happen?”

“Sort of,” Derek explains.

“Sort of,” Stiles snorts irritated, “there was a fucking _fire_.”

Derek gives Stiles a shut-the-fuck-up-look that has Stiles rolling his eyes so hard it physically hurts. Melissa is grabbing Derek’s arms, touching him on the forehead, repeating the same questions “are you hurt? Are you okay? How did it happen? A hedgehog, are you sure?” over and over again and in the confusion Stiles sets for the stairs, pulling Scott after him.

Upstairs they run into their soon-to-be eight year old brother Isaac who looks far too awake for his own good. When he sees that his brothers have returned from their quest he immediately assaults them with questions.

“Did you kill anyone?” he asks in a casual tone of voice.

“Sorry to disappoint you, we did not,” Stiles says when Isaac crawls onto his bed, fully dressed and ready to leave already.

“Did you steal anything then?”

“Nope,” Stiles says again as he finds a clean shirt.

“Were you in a fight?”

“Actually… no.” Stiles grabs his books and forces them into his backpack. “We did, however, save a really pretty lady from a crazy lizard who – “

“You’re lying,” Isaac informs him. “Were you in a gangbang then?”

Stiles, who is in the middle of finding his right sock, chokes on his own spit and trips, which results in him face-planting with the floorboard. Rather hard and rather ruthless. He yelps in pain and hears Isaac gasp.

“Stiles, are you okay?” his younger brother demands to be told as he sits down next to Stiles.

The older boy turns around so he’s on his back and he can immediately taste cobber and salt in his mouth and feel something run down his face. There’s a possibility it’s blood, he reckons. Judging by Isaac’s gasp he reckons it’s a rather safe choice to go with blood actually. Through his haze of pain he manages to ask Isaac: “Do you know what a gangbang is?”

The boy, looking a comical mixture between fascinated, horrified and bored, shrugs indifferently. “It’s when someone in a gang fights someone from another gang, right?”

Stiles snorts which turns out to actually be harmful so it turns into a pathetic whimper.

“Are you okay?” Isaac asks concerned.

“Not really, no. Help me up buddy,” he says and together they get him off the floor. He is dizzy for a few seconds but then he’s okay again. However, standing up means that the blood – that Stiles has now pinpointed to come from his nose – pours more enthusiastically down his face and onto his shirt and the floor.

“Ew,” Isaac says.

“Thanks for the support, buddy,” Stiles says and tilts his head back in an attempt to stop the bleeding. “Help me downstairs.”

Reluctantly Isaac does so. When Derek, who’s in the kitchen drinking coffee, notices them he gets up so quickly he nearly trips the chair.

“What the hell happened to you?” he practically shouts as he grabs Stiles’ shoulders.

“Gangbang,” he mutters.

“What?” Derek splutters but Stiles just shakes his head no. “Okay, come here.”

“Calm down, I’m fine,” Stiles sighs.

“You’re not fine, you’re bleeding like a waterfall.”

“Thank you, Derek, for the mental images, but I mean it, I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” Derek growls as he carefully, as if he’s seriously frightened Stiles is hurt for good, guides him into the kitchen. “ _Mom!_ ”

Melissa shows up from the bathroom. Stiles is sitting on one of the chairs, Derek is holding onto as if he’s afraid he might faint and Isaac is running around the kitchen looking for something to stop the bleeding.

“What happened?!” he says as she enters. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Stiles says again. “It’s just a nose bleed.”

“But why?” Melissa asks as she grabs a towel from the sink.

“Don’t ask,” Derek begs.

Melissa gives him a puzzled look but then she nods and starts to carefully dab Stiles with the slightly wet towel while the boy hisses every now and again. In the meantime Derek is holding onto Stiles’ shoulder so tight it hurts more than his nose. But it’s also amazing, to have his boyfriend touch him without anyone giving them odd looks. Because there’s nothing abnormal about a brother giving another brother’s shoulder a comforting squeeze when he’s in pain, Stiles thinks somewhat bitterly.

“Is it broken?” Derek asks and even Stiles can hear the ridicules amount of concern in his voice.

“No, don’t worry,” Melissa says. “It’s just the fall. Here, take this.” She hands Stiles the towel and he takes it gratefully. “I’ll go tell Scott that he’s driving and then I’ll find you an aspirin.”

“I can take them,” Derek says and shrugs. “No big deal.”

“But what about classes?” Stiles asks.

“I’m not going today, I think I deserve the day off.”

“Point taken.”

“Fine,” Melissa throws Derek her car keys. “You can take my car.”

“Where’s your own by the way?” Stiles asks.

“Boyd borrowed it to go see his parents. His mother has been diagnosed with brain cancer.”

Stiles feels his heartbeat pick up. He sees something like pain and worry flash through Derek’s beautiful eyes and he reaches out and takes his hand, giving it a squeeze. Derek looks up and gives him a reassuring smile. There a brief second, nothing more than a few, where they’re both looking into each other’s eyes wordlessly.

“Hey, your mother told me to – am I interrupting something?”

Derek and Stiles both turn to look at the sheriff as he enters with a glass and two pills, looking at his sons with furrowed eyebrows.

“No of course not,” Stiles says and hopes to god he isn’t blushing. “Those for me?”

“Mom told me what happened.” Then the sheriff looks at Derek. “And the fire? Are you okay, son?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Derek smiles. “It wasn’t even that big of a deal.”

“How did it happen?” The sheriff asks.

“A freaking hedgehog,” Stiles grumbles as he swallows the pill.

\--

“Allison wants to know if we’ll be interested in helping her look after her niece Erica this Weekend?”

Stiles groans. “Fine,” he sighs as he enters Chemistry. “But can we invite Lydia as well?”

Scott snorts and sits down next to him. “Good luck getting her to agree.”

“I have my methods,” Stiles says.

“I’m sure you do.” Scott pulls out his book and a pen. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you, does dad know?”

“Does dad knows what?” Stiles asks as he searches his backpack for his book.

“You know,” Scott mumbles, “about you and D?”

Stiles can’t help but snort. “D, you say, as if no one will be able to figure out – hey, what did you say? You think my dad _knows_? How did you reach this conclusion, Scotty?”

“Well,” Scott says, “this morning – “

“Stilinski, McCall,” their teacher shouts, “you want me to call your parents? They are, in your case, literally only _one_ phone call away.”

“No, sorry, sir,” Scott mumbles before he turns his attention back to the book.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Stiles hisses under his breath before he tries to focus on what they’re leaning today.

A few hours later at lunch Stiles pulls Scott down at the nearest table. “What did you mean today in chemistry when you said my dad knew?”

“Okay, that’s totally not what I said,” Scott complaints. “I’m just saying, it looks like he might know.”

“What?” Stiles shrieks. “How, what, I don’t – “

“What got you stammering, Stilinski?” Lydia asks as she sits down at their table.

“My freaking dad,” Stiles growls.

“And Derek,” Scott supplies.

“Well,” Lydia says, “now I’m intrigued. That sounds interesting, what are you two boys up to now?”

 “Oh, calm your horses, Martin,” Stiles says. “Scott just mentioned that he though my dad might know about Derek and me.”

“Well, this morning,” Scott explains, “when he came out from the kitchen he was muttering under his breath and he looked sort of, I don’t know, freaked out I guess?”

Stiles groans and hides his face in the palms of his hands. “No, this can’t be good,” he whispers.

“Have you thought about telling him?” Lydia asks and takes a sip of her water, allowing Stiles to eat a piece of her apple.

“No,” he says, “and _especially_ not now.”

Lydia sighs and pats his arm for comfort. Stiles just groans louder and takes another bite.

\--

When it’s time to go Stiles kinda wishes it’s not Derek who’s there to pick them up. He’s standing outside of the school next to Scott and the twins who are talking about some Lacrosse practice. Apparently, Ethan wants to finally try out for the team but Aiden is far from thrilled. Scott is trying to help Ethan persuade Aiden to try out as well. Stiles tries not to roll his eyes. When he sees the car Stiles instantly knows Derek is driving even when he can’t properly see him yet. Maybe it’s something about the way he turns the car around, something about the way he drives, Stiles doesn’t know for sure. He just knows, in that specific moment, that he’s not going to tell Derek about Scott’s suspicion. And neither is Scott.

“Hey, buddy,” Stiles says.

“What? Oh, yeah, gotta go, but I’ll see you at try-outs!” Scott calls and walks down the stairs. Stiles is right behind him.

“Dude, can you not mention anything to Derek about dad?” Stiles half-whispers as they approach the car. “It’s just, I see no reason to worry him, you know?”

Scott eyes him warily before he nods. “Okay.”

“You’re awesome, thanks, bro.”

“Don’t thank me now, thank me Saturday when you and Erica are watching My Little Pony while I tell Allison how much I love her.”

Stiles groans as he climbs into the car next to Derek.

“What’s the matter?” Derek asks. “Is it your nose? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, stop worrying,” Stiles hisses.

Scott snorts. “You sound like an old married couple.”

Stiles glares at him over his shoulder. “Funny,” he comments dryly. “Now can we go home?”

“Why are you so tense today?” Derek mumbles as he drives away.

Stiles just shakes his head dismissively and touches his nose gently. “Nothing, just tired.”

Another snort from Scott has Stiles promising him a painful death if his brother and best friend doesn’t close his freaking mouth and keeps it shut for the rest of the way home. When Scott tries to talk about Allison Stiles threatens to cancel their babysitting plans.

\--

“They’re trying to relocate us,” Derek says around a mouth-full of pasta. “It’s a bit difficult when we’re that many but they sort of has to.”

“What about the dude who owns the hedgehog?” Stiles asks. “Does he, like, have to pay for anything?”

“Probably,” Derek shrugs.

“Poor dude,” Scott mumbles.

“What about the hedgehog?” Isaac wants to know. “Is it dead?”

“And poor hedgehog,” Stiles chimes in.

“The hedgehog is fine,” Melissa tells Derek. Stiles only refrains from snorting loudly when Derek throws a piece of carrot at him when Melissa and Isaac aren’t watching.

“Until they can find a new apartment, though,” Derek continues as if he didn’t just throw food at his stepbrother, who’s currently trying to sneakily kick Derek under the table, “can I stay here? Just for a few days.”

“Your mom and I’ll be happy to let you stay for as long as you need, son, you know that,” the sheriff says and grabs the bowl with carrots before Stiles can reach for more ammunition against Derek.

“Thanks, dad,” Derek says.

Everyone else continues on as if nothing has happened but Stiles stops with the fork halfway to his mouth, his eyes wide open and his heart hammering too loud in his own ears. It takes all his willpower to lower the fork and swallow hard. He reaches out and grabs his glass, drinks the entire thing in one go and then gets up.

“Gonna go to the bathroom,” he mumbles and practically runs upstairs.

When he’s sitting on the toilet, head between his knees and his hands clenched in his lap he tries to take long, deep breaths to stop from hyperventilating or, worse, having a panic attack.

And it’s utterly stupid, he knows that. It’s not the first time Derek’s called John ‘dad’ and it’s probably not the last. Stiles calls Melissa ‘mom’ practically all the time, Scott calls the sheriff ‘dad’ everyone now and again and Laura hardly calls him anything else, really. In public they are viewed as one, big, happy family with Melissa as the mom – everyone’s mom – and John as the dad – everyone’s dad. But still, after the conversation with Scott this afternoon, after the eternal fear of his father knowing more than he’s saying Stiles can’t shake the sudden panic that overwhelms him.

Derek calling the sheriff ‘dad’ is just another somewhat painful reminder that Stiles and Derek are brothers above anything else. They might not see it that way themselves – god knows Stiles doesn’t see Derek as anything but his amazing boyfriend – but to people like Melissa, John, Scott, Isaac, Laura and the twins, Malia and Cora – Laura’s daughters – they are _brothers_.

They can never tell them the truth, Stiles thinks right there in the bathroom between quick breaths of air. They can never tell them because how can anyone accept that their sons are dating? How can they possibly demand that from anyone? Suddenly Stiles realizes just how accepting Scott has been and he is overwhelmed – once more – but this time all he feels is immense gratitude that he’s been blessed with Scott as his best friend and brother. Never has he felt more undeserving.

Someone knocks the door.

“Stiles,” he hears his father ask, “are you okay in there?”

“Yeah,” Stiles gasps and tries to swallow around the suffocating lump in his throat. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?” he asks and he sounds so fucking concerned, so fucking worried it just makes it all the harder to breathe.

Stiles takes a few seconds before he’s able to say, “yeah, promise. Could you get Scott for me, dad?”

There’s a moment of silence. “Stiles, are you sure – “

“Please, dad?”

Another long silence and then someone sighs heavily and Stiles hears his father leave. It only takes a few seconds and then someone knocks the door again.

“Stiles?” Scott asks. “Can I come in?”

Stiles rushes to the door and opens it in a hurry. He shuts the door closed as soon as Scott is inside and then he sits down against it, once against with his head between his knees.

“Stiles? Shit, is this a panic attack?” Scott is right in front of him and Stiles looks up and meets his brother’s eyes.

“No,” he gasps, “I’m just hyperventilating I think. Just – just give me a second.”

“Count with me, Stiles,” Scott informs him firmly. “Ready.”

“Scott – “Stiles tries to disagree but Scott is frightening determined when it comes to other people’s safety and without paying Stiles’ protest any mind he continues:

“One, count with me, two, Stiles come on, three – “

And Stiles stops trying to argue that he isn’t having a panic attack but still freaking out and instead follows orders and counts all the way to ten twice before Scott seems satisfied.

“Okay,” Scott says, “how are you?”

Stiles inhales deeply and nods. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

“What happened?” Scott asks tenderly and puts a hand on Stiles’ arm.

The other boy looks up, opens his mouth, stares at Scott wordlessly, closes it and opens it once more. “I don’t really know,” he mumbles.

Scott furrows his eyebrows and lean in closer so he can wrap his arms around his brother and hold him closer. Stiles sighs and leans against Scott’s strong frame, allowing himself to be cuddled and rocked back and forth for a few minutes like his mother used to do when he got hurt.

“Is it about Derek? And about what I said about your dad?” Scott asks against Stiles’ shoulder.

“Yeah,” he breathes, “I think so.”

“You know it’s going to be okay, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” he lies.

“I mean it,” Scott clarifies.

“I know.”

They are silent and comfortable for a while. Stiles inhales Scott’s scent. He smells of sweat, hair products, the forest, Allison and _home_.

When they pull apart Scott is giving him the brightest smile he can muster. “I love you,” he tells Stiles.

And Stiles smiles and even lets out a short laugh. “I know, Scotty, I love you too.”

They get up and head back downstairs. Melissa and John are in the kitchen, cleaning, Isaac is in the living room doing his so-called “homework” (Stiles has argued it can’t be clarified as “homework” when it involves coloring but Melissa and his dad threatened him with months of kitchen-cleaning-duty if he ever said anything like that to Isaac) and Derek is sitting at the table. When his younger brothers reenter he looks up and Stiles can see the concern written all over his face.

“You okay?” he asks immediately and gets up.

“Fine,” Stiles sighs and when Derek puts a hand on his arm he can’t help but lean slightly into the touch, especially when the older male rubs his arm with his thumb to calm him down.

“You sure?” Derek mumbles. “You’ve been a bit tense all day.”

“Said I’m fine,” Stiles says again and takes a step back. “It’s just been a very long day – “

“How’s the nose? Do you have a headache – “

“ _Derek!_ ”

Just then Stiles’ dad rounds the corner. He lift both his eyebrows when he sees Stiles and Derek – Scott has disappeared into the living room – and Stiles can feel the lump form in his throat all over again.

“Everything okay?” the sheriff asks.

“Yeah,” Stiles hisses, his heart beating so fucking hard in his chest he can’t handle it. “Gonna take a shower,” and he’s gone before either his dad or Derek can say anything else.

\--

It’s late. Somewhere a dog is barking. Stiles is wondering whether anyone will be able to trace it back to him if he shoots the dog. Not that he’s going to (because that means he’ll have to get out of bed and that’s not really an option) but _hypothetically_ he could probably get away with murder.

The door opens and he turns to see a dark, familiar figure standing in the doorway. Derek takes a step inside and Stiles moves in to make room for him in the bed.

When he climbs in next to Stiles warmth settles over the younger boy and he immediately feels safer and calmer. Even the barking dog suddenly seems farther away.

Derek places an arm around Stiles’ frame and pulls him closer. Stiles rests his head on Derek’s chest and closes his eyes, breathing in the scent of his boyfriend, loving how there’s a hint of himself in there somewhere.

“Are you okay?” Derek whispers.

Stiles would roll his eyes. “I’m fine.”

“What happened?”

Stiles sighs and moves closer to the other body. “Just… nothing. It’s just… I don’t know. Nothing.”

“Stiles,” Derek says in the warning tone of voice he uses every now and again. “Tell me.”

“It’s nothing,” Stiles promises. “Please just go to bed, okay?”

Derek sighs as well. “Okay,” he finally gives in. “But I have to wake up before the others so I can – “

“I know,” Stiles cuts him off. “Don’t… You’ll wake up.”

Derek hums but doesn’t say anything. There’s silence for a while and Stiles allows himself to be pulled into the darkness. He’s just about to fall asleep when Derek moves.

“I can’t fall asleep in here,” he says. “I’ll go back downstairs.”

Stiles bites his lip not to scream in anger and frustration when Derek stands up and moves towards the door.

“See you tomorrow, Stiles,” he says.

“Yeah,” is all the reply Stiles gives him.

“I love you,” he whispers.

And Stiles can’t help but whisper “I love you, too,” back because it’s the solid truth.

\--

A few days later Derek is still with them. He’s back in College because Melissa told him he had to go to classes if he wanted to sleep under her roof. He leaves early and comes home late. Scott has moved into Isaac’s room because Derek needs his own. At first Isaac argued that Scott could sleep with Stiles because they were the same age and sometimes still shared a bed. Scott argued Stiles should sleep with Isaac because they’re both hyperactive and light sleepers and deserved each other. Stiles argued that _because_ they were both light sleepers it would be a nightmare to have him and Isaac share a room. In the end they drew lots and Scott and Isaac lost, so.

For a few days everything is good and normal in the family. Laura, the twins and Laura’s boyfriend Kenneth have been for dinner, Allison’s been there a few times, Lydia even came over to study. It’s perfectly normal, Stiles argues, even if it feels like he’s slowly going insane.

Because Derek is right there and he can’t freaking reach out and touch him and he’s going to lose his mind. He’s managed five days – five freaking long days! – when he finally explodes.

In hindsight it wasn’t his best idea but he was desperate.

It’s late night on Derek’s sixth day. Everyone’s gone to bed, everyone’s fast asleep. Stiles, however, is not. Instead he’s lying in bed, listening for signs that anyone hasn’t fallen entirely asleep yet. He waits an hour before he finally gets up. He carefully walks into the hallway, across the hall and into Derek’s room.

He knows Scott’s bedroom like his own pocket. He knows every corner, every thing on the floor. He knows every book, every piece of clothes, everything. From the condoms in the drawer to the picture of Allison on the bedside table.

He makes it to the bed without tripping or fumbling or stepping on anything.

It’s not like he expects to have wild and crazy sex with Derek (though he wouldn’t mind that) it’s just that he needs to touch him, kiss him, press his side against his and feel his hot breath on his lips. That’s all.

He places on knee on the bed and reaches forward.

“Stiles?” Derek slurs.

“Hey,” the teen says, “can I climb in?”

“Not a good idea,” Derek mumbles.

“Why not?”

“Asleep,” is all Derek can answer.

Stiles rolls his eyes and climbs in next to the boy nevertheless. The other male groans but moves over, making room for Stiles, anyway.

“God I missed this,” Stiles breathes when he cuddles next to Derek, burrowing his face against Derek’s neck. “So freaking much.”

“Me too,” Derek mumbles and puts an arm around you. “But you gotta go.”

Stile sighs. “Give me five minutes.”

“Stiles – “

“And a kiss.”

“Stiles!”

“Only a kiss. Please?”

Derek opens one eye reluctantly and looks at the younger boy. Then he sighs and Stiles beams. They lean closer and their lips touch and it’s fireworks and confetti and Christmas come early and everything all at once because it’s familiar and good and safe and love.

Stiles loves Derek so fucking much.

“Thanks,” Stiles whispers when they pull back.

“I love you,” Derek whispers back.

“You too.”

And then they’re both silent and Stiles knows he should move, knows he should get up and out, but he doesn’t and he can’t. Lying next to Derek is too comfortable, too good for him to muster the willpower to leave.

So he closes his eyes, presses his body closer against Derek’s, hums when Derek kisses his temples and falls asleep.

\--

“Morning Derek, I thought you – “

Stiles eyes open and he bolts upright immediately.

Derek, a little slower, groggily opens his eyes, blinks and stares.

“What are you two doing?”

Stiles swallows hard before he turns to look at his father in the doorway.

“Sleeping,” he offers, voice barely above a whisper.

The sheriff’s nostrils flares dangerously, Stiles’ hearts beat too loud and Derek is stiff and still and silent. There’s a long while where no one talks, no one speaks, no one dares to even move a muscle and then the sheriff takes a step back.

“Downstairs, both of you, right now.” His order is loud and sharp and cuts like a knife. “We’ll talk about this later.”

And then he leaves.

And Stiles feels his chest tighten and his fingers shake and he clenches his jaw and closes his eyes.

A light touch on his arms gets his attention and he turns to look at Derek who looks horrified, frightened and sad all at the same time. Stiles can’t stand it so he leans down and kiss him quickly on the forehead – because he’s hit with a sudden, sharp feeling that it will be a long time before he can do that again.

“We should get moving,” he says and his voice sounds strange, even to his own ears.

“Stiles,” Derek whispers. “It will be okay.”

Stiles looks at Derek but nothing in his boyfriend’s eyes serve as proof that what he’s saying is the truth. His own eyes are scared and wide and on the brink of tears and Stiles knows that it won’t be okay because how can it be okay? He may not have caught them kissing but this is just as bad. They can’t lie themselves out of this. Had it been anyone else, sure, he could come up with a plausible excusive as to why they were cuddling – hell, it wouldn’t even be that hard – but not with Derek. Laura, Scott, Isaac, he could cuddle them, no questions asked. Lydia, his nieces, Aiden, Ethan or even Allison, still no one would demand any answers. Not anymore than reasonable. No one, especially not his father, would look at him the way he just did and make Stiles feel so lousy, so low, so – so –  

“How do you know?” Stiles asks as he gets up and leaves.

\--

He feels oddly numb when he walks downstairs. A part of him is freaking out, sure, but the majority of him is calm and almost collected as he heads down the stairs with the backpack. He can hear Isaac asking permission to invite Jackson, Danny and Matt over for a movie night. Scott is on the phone with Allison, discussing some date they have planned this Friday. Melissa is making coffee humming along to the song on the radio. His dad should be reading the newspaper or listening interested to what Isaac is saying but instead he’s sitting tense and stiff at the table, drinking his coffee and staring blankly into space. Stiles continues down until he sits down at the table. He doesn’t dare look at his father afraid of what he might say. Derek is nowhere in sight.

Stiles sits down at the table but he doesn’t eat anything, he just focuses on Isaac’s rambling, Melissa’s humming and Scott’s talking. It’s a nice to know that these people, those three, at least for the time being still love him unconditionally. He wants to hold onto this moment in time for a little while longer.

“Are you ready?” Melissa asks too soon.

“Yes!” Isaac says and runs into the hallway.

“Too much energy,” Scott mutters as he grabs his lunchbox from the fridge.

“Honey,” the sheriff suddenly says as Stiles is about to get up. “Can you take Scott today as well?”

Scott and Melissa both turn to look at the sheriff. Stiles’ hearts is out of control, his fingers shake and he doesn’t dare breathe.

“Sure, but why can’t he drive with Stiles – “

“I’ll take Stiles, I have something I need to discuss with him.” The sheriff’s voice is so sharp, so ruthless so not up for debate. It’s the voice he used to use when Stiles was younger and got in serious trouble. It makes Stiles anything but calm to hear his father use it again.

Melissa and Scott share a quick look before they both nod. They too have had their encounters with that voice and they both know that it’s better not to argue.

“See you tonight,” Melissa says.

“See you at school,” Scott says, obviously a bit unsure.

“Where’s Derek?” Melissa asks before she grabs her keys.

“He left already,” the sheriff grunts and Melissa doesn’t say anything else before she leaves with Isaac and Scott. The sound of the door closing rings loud and clear after them. Stiles is staring at the door like he expects them to come bursting through it again but nothing happens. There’s just a door and it’s closed and Stiles and his father are alone and –

“You want to explain to me what happened today?”

Stiles clenches his fists. He thinks about the last time he was this terrified to tell his father anything. Back then he’d been seven and he’d noticed his mother was losing weight. It’d taken him three months to pull together the courage and tell his father and when he finally did he starting sobbing like a maniac. His father back then took young Stiles into his arms and told him not to cry.

“I know,” he’d whispered while he rocked him back and forth, “I know, baby, I know.”

And then he’d told Stiles the truth: “Your mother is sick.”

“Stiles?”

The boy finally looks up and meets his father’s eyes and –

He gulps. “We – we just fell asleep in the same – “

“Don’t bullshit me, Stiles,” the sheriff hisses. “I know you and Derek don’t share a bed.”

“Why not?” Stiles bites back. “Scott and I – “

“Scott and you aren’t you and Derek.”

And, god, he doesn’t need to tell Stiles that because he knows.

“So, want to tell me the truth for once?”

The words a sharp, cunning, ruthless and they hurt.

“I have no idea – “

“Stiles!”

“What do you want me to say, dad?” he fights back. “We just fell asleep in the same bed, it’s no big deal.”

“I’m not blind, Stiles,” the sheriff says. “I’ve seen the way you two behave around each other lately.”

“Yeah,” Stiles says with venom dripping from his tongue, “and how’s that?”

“Like… like something’s different.” The Sheriff looks vaguely in doubt for the first time during this horrible conversation. He meets his son’s eyes once more. “Something is different and don’t you try to deny it, Stiles.”

Stiles inhales sharply but he doesn’t argue because he can’t. How can he possibly get out of this? His father isn’t stupid. He _knows_.

“Tell me truth, Stiles.” His voice is loud and demanding like Stiles is still just a child, like Stiles has done something bad like the time he broke grandmother’s vase and hid the pieces under his bed.

Stiles tries to swallow and fails. He can’t stand his father’s sharp tongue and cutting eyes so he looks away. “I don’t know what you mean,” he mumbles.

“Stiles,” the sheriff sighs and suddenly he sounds so old and so tired. “You can tell me what’s going on.”

Something inside Stiles breaks.

“How can you even say that, dad?” he shouts. “When you’re sitting there, shouting at me when you still don’t even know what the truth is. And you still shout, how can you say that I can tell you everything?”

“Then tell me the truth, Stiles,” the sheriff shouts back. He takes a deep breath. “Did… did he do something to you, Stiles?”

Stiles feels sick. Like his entire body is on fire, like his skin is too tight, like the blood in his veins is too thick and his head is spinning around and around on his shoulder.

“Do you think that?” he asks and his voice is weird, tense and numb at the same time.

“God, no, Derek could never hurt – “

“Then why do you _ask_?”

“Because it doesn’t make any sense!”

Ah, and there it is: it doesn’t make any sense you’re in love with you brother, Stiles. It doesn’t make any sense that you don’t see him as your relative when I do, when we all do.

Stiles stands up but the sheriff follows suit. “Sit down, young man,” he warns him.

“No,” Stiles spits and turns around. On second thought he spins around and faces his father. “How can you even think to say something like that? That – that Derek did something to me. What, you think he _forced_ me?”

The sheriff winces like Stiles has physically hit him and Stiles knows that it’s because a mental image of Derek using force against Stiles suddenly takes over his thoughts.

“I don’t think anything, Stiles,” he says and he sounds like he’s choking on his own spit. “But I’m trying to understand why I found you and Derek – I don’t even know.”

The tears in his eyes makes it harder for Stiles to see anything. His fingers are shaking, he can barely breathe.

“I’ve been fed so many lies I don’t even know the kid standing in front of me,” the sheriff says. “What the hell is going on? The truth, Stiles!”

The part of Stiles that broke when the sheriff first began asking questions is done breaking. Stiles feels… nothing and everything all of the sudden. It’s strange, it’s almost like he’s not there, like it isn’t actually him opening his mouth and uttering the words but someone else:

“The truth? The truth is that I love him.”

“What?”

Stiles lets one tear escape from the corner of his eye. “I love him, dad.”

“Of course you do, Stiles, he’s your brother – “

“No, he’s not,” Stiles says and shakes his head. He can see a sudden wild panic is his father’s eyes and it’s the single most frightening thing Stiles has ever witnessed. “He’s Melissa’s son, he’s Scott’s brother, he’s, Laura’s brother, Isaac’s brother, the twins’ uncle, he’s your son. But he’s not _my_ brother.”

The sheriff is so pale. “How can you say that?”

“Because it’s the truth, dad.”

“I said no more lies, Stiles – “

“I’m not lying!” Stiles shouts in desperation. “I love him, dad. And he loves me and it’s not weird or sick because we aren’t related. I’ve never really seen him as my brother, not in that same way I see Scott and Isaac as my brothers and Laura as my sister. It’s always been different with Derek. And I love him. I’m in love – “

“Stop it,” the sheriff snarls.

“I need you to understand, dad – “

“All I need to understand,” the sheriff cuts him off, “is whether or not Derek has taken advantage of you.”

Stiles stumbles a step back and nearly hits the fridge. “What?” he stammers as he stares at his father with wide eyes and his mouth half open.

“You know exactly what I mean, Stiles.”

“Frankly, I don’t. Taken advantage of me? You think – you think Derek’s _raped_ me?”

“I think,” the sheriff says and swallows hard, “that you’re too young to know – “

“God, dad, what even are you suggesting?”

“What I want to know is whether or not you’ve had sex.”

Stiles inhales sharply. For a long moment he’s frozen still. He is staring at his father but it’s like he can’t see him properly, like there’s suddenly something between them; something ugly there’s never been there before.

“And so what if we have?” Stiles bites back.

The sheriff pales further and closes his eyes for a brief second. “I know, Stiles, that I’ve told you about statutory rape – “

“What?!” Stiles shouts. “Dad, no, you can’t be serious – “

“I’m deadly serious,” the sheriff roars. “Derek is older than you, he is an adult – “

“And so am I!” Stiles shouts.

“You’re seventeen, Stiles, you don’t know what you want!”

“I don’t know what I want? That’s bullshit, I know what I want! I want Derek and he could never take advantage of me, you should know that!”

“I thought I knew that,” the sheriff shouts back, “until this morning when all my worst fears were suddenly confirmed.”

Stiles lets another tear and then another and another fall. “Your worst fears, huh?”

“Stiles, I want to protect you – “

“By accusing my boyfriend of raping me?”

“Statutory rape – “

“Shut UP!”

They are both breathing heavily. The air is thick with accusations and betrayal and it’s hard to breathe. Stiles want to shout and shout and shout. He wants to scream until his throat is dry and his voice is broken.

“If you ever,” Stiles whispers but he knows his dad can hear him, “tell anyone about Derek and me I will deny everything, you get that? If you try to get him accused of statutory rape – “

“I would never do that, he is my son!” the sheriff shouts.

“Good,” Stiles hisses, “because I _will_ deny. I will lie to every police officer, to every judge, to everyone. I will deny that he’s ever laid a hand on me.”

The sheriff looks at his son as if there’s more he wants to say but Stiles can’t take anymore. He grabs his car keys from the table and rushes into the hallway.

“Where are you going?” the sheriff shouts.

“Out,” he shouts back, voice breaking, “away from you!”

And the door slams shut behind him.

\--

He drives for hours. He listens to music on the radio. He screams when it gets too much. He fights a few panic attacks. He calls Lydia and cries. He calls Allison and shouts. He calls Scott and tells him everything. He calls Derek and cries and shouts and tells him everything.

“Where are you right now?” Derek asks.

“I don’t know,” Stiles mumbles as he continues down the road.

“You shouldn’t be driving when you’re this upset – “

“Well of course I’m fucking upset,” Stiles shouts out through the tears, “my father just – “

“I know what he did,” Derek says. “You have every right to be upset. I just don’t want anything to happen to you, okay? Because I love you.”

“Sometimes I wish you didn’t,” Stiles whispers. “Sometimes I wish… I mean maybe if you didn’t feel the same way, you know, I could move on? Because I would have to, right? I could move on and find someone else and you could find someone else – “

“I don’t want anyone else,” Derek says, “I want you.”

Stiles sobs. “I want you, too. I love you. I _love_ you.”

“I know,” Derek promises. “Where are you?”

“I told you, _I don’t know_!”

“Calm down, please,” Derek begs. “And park the car so I can come get you.”

“Derek – “

“No arguing,” the older male says.

Stiles swallows and follows order. “I’m at, uh, something called – “ He stops trying to read the sign and starts laughing. Loud, and slightly insane. “The Hedgehog’s Road.”

“Are you serious?” Derek asks.

Stiles laughs once more. “Deadly.”

“Okay I’ll come get you. Stay there, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And Stiles? Everything will be alright, I promise you. We’ll make this right somehow, just trust me.”

“Okay.”

\--

It’s been too long. It’s been hours. It shouldn’t take hours. He has three missed calls from his dad, three from Melissa and five from Scott. But he doesn’t want to talk to any of them, he only wants Derek.  And he isn’t there, he isn’t anywhere –

The phone rings one more and this time it’s Lydia. He debates pressing ‘red’ like he’s done all the other times but then he realizes that this is Lydia and for the sake of his health he presses ‘green’ instead.

“Where are you?” she shouts into the speaker.

“Um, The Hedgehog’s Road – Lydia, are you okay?”

“No,” she shouts. He’s never heard her sound so – so panicked.

“What happened?”

“It’s Derek.”

No.

No.

No.

Nononononononono.

“W-what do you mean ‘it’s Derek’?”

“There was an accident, they’ve tried to reach you – “

“What sort of accident?”

“A car accident.”

No.

“Where is he?”

“Stiles – “

“WHERE IS HE?”

“They’re operating on him right now.”

No.

“They – they don’t know if– “

“No.”

Silence.

“I’m so sorry, Stiles – “

“No.”

“Stay where you are, I’ll pick you up.”

No.

No.

No.

“Stiles?”

“No,” he whispers.

“Hey,” she says, “it’s going to be fine, okay? I’ll come get you. We’ll make this right somehow, just trust me.”

Stiles chokes and sobs and cries.

_We’ll make this right somehow, just trust me._

Derek’s words.

Filthy, filthy lies.

“I’m on my way.”

“Lydia,” Stiles whispers. “Is he going to die?”

There’s a long silence that stretches out into infinity and back. “I don’t know, Stiles, but they’re doing everything they can – “

He hangs up before she can say the rest because he can’t take it.

\--

It takes twenty minutes to reach him.

Twenty minutes of panic attacks and crying.

She wraps her arms around him and lets him cry and cry and cry.

Then they head back.

They’re silent the entire way there.

Stiles has no words left.

\--

They are all sitting in the waiting room.

Melissa has a cup of coffee in her hands but the look on her face tells Stiles she’s forgotten all about it. Next to her Scott is staring blankly into space. Isaac has his arms curled around himself, his eyes closed and tears falling from them. Stiles’ dad is standing in front of the window, looking at the parking lot underneath them. Even Allison is there, looking frightened and pale and awkward on the chair next to Scott. She is holding his hand so hard her knuckles have turned white.

When Lydia and Stiles enters everyone looks up – even the sheriff – and it isn’t until then when Stiles actually sees his family’s expression that he realizes, that he truly understands, that this is real. Derek is in there somewhere, they’re operating on him right now, they’re trying to save his life but he might not make it.

And all because he was going to pick up Stiles.

Strong arms wrap around his frame. He falls into the embrace. He cries so hard he can barely breathe. His legs grow weak.

“It’s my fault,” he cries against his father’s chest. “It’s my fault, it’s my fault.”

“No, shhh, son,” the sheriff whispers, “that’s not true, that could never be true.”

“He was going to – “

“I know, he called me,” the sheriff whispers. “But that doesn’t make it your fault, okay? It’s not.”

“What if he doesn’t – “

“You can’t think like that, son. He’s going to be alright. We’re all going to be alright, you hear me? All of us, all of this, everything is going to be alright. I promise you.”

Stiles just cries harder.

\--

“Here,” Allison says and hands him the coffee.

“Thanks,” Stiles mumbles.

She sits down next to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. She doesn’t say anything. She knows that nothing she can say will make this better. She offers him her silence and understanding and he’s forever grateful for that. She understands him, in that way. Understands that talking doesn’t always make it better.

Isaac is asleep with his head in his mom’s lap. Melissa is trying to read her newspaper. John is pacing back and forth. Laura, who arrived a few hours ago after she called Kenneth and got him to take her twins, has her arms around Scott. They’re also not talking, just sitting together. Lydia left half an hour ago but promised to be back.

“You know what this reminds me of,” Scott suddenly says. “When we were all waiting for Stiles to wake up.”

Stiles inhales sharply and he sees everyone else do the same thing. In winter Stiles fell through the ice of a lake and landed in the cold water and almost drowned. He was out cold for days.

“And he woke up,” Melissa says. “He woke up and he’s fine and Derek is going to wake up and be fine as well.”

Stiles doesn’t feel fine.

He feels broken and useless and –

“Hale?”

Everyone turns their attention to the nurse who’s appeared.

Stiles doesn’t breathe.

“Yeah,” Melissa says and stands up. “We’re the Hales.”

“Derek’s family?” she needs to clarify.

“Is he alright?” the sheriff says because he can’t stand it anymore.

And Stiles gets it.

Because, yeah, he might have been hospitalized and come out just fine, but there was a time when Claudia Stilinski was the one lying in there on those sheets and she was never alright again.

“He’s fine,” the nurse says with a smile.

Allison exhales sharply and grabs Stiles’ arm like she’s afraid he might fall.

He won’t. Because he can’t feel anything just yet.

The nurse continues to talk but suddenly Stiles can’t hear her properly. Suddenly everything is so far away, suddenly all he can think about is seeing Derek, see him breath, see him move and eat, hear him talk, make sure that he’s actually alive and well and –

“When can we see him?” Isaac asks in his little, unsure voice.

“Right now,” the nurse smiles. “But only for a few minutes.”

Everyone except Allison gets up immediately.

Scott puts a hand on Stiles shoulder to guide him carefully forward.

They follow the nurse down endless corridors. She talks and talks and Stiles can’t hear a thing. Then suddenly they’re in front of a door just like the countless others they’ve passed. The only difference is that this time she stops and opens the door for them. They all enter. Stiles still can’t feel a thing until –

Until he sees – actually sees – Derek lying on the bed. And he looks okay. There are tubes attached to him, needles and blood and water running into him or out of him Stiles isn’t really sure but he’s okay. He’s bruised and his leg is broken but he’s okay.

And he’s awake.

“Hey,” he says in a raspy, broken voice.

Melissa rushes to her son. She is crying. John is right behind her and then Isaac and Scott and finally Laura. They are all laughing and crying and Stiles is frozen at the door, just staring at them all, trying to wrap his mind around everything and failing miserably.

“Stiles?” Scott’s tender voice suddenly says and Stiles realizes that everyone is staring at him. Including Derek. And then something inside of Stiles bursts and he runs to Derek and grabs his face and presses his lips to Derek’s. The tears make it wet and weird but he doesn’t care. His fingers are trembling worse than ever before. He laughs and cries against Derek’s mouth but he can’t help it. Their family is watching them and he couldn’t care less.

“Don’t you ever do that again,” he whispers against Derek’s mouth.

Derek smiles. “Promise.”

And Stiles kisses him once more and once more and once more.

And behind him he hears Isaac mutter a “finally” followed by Laura’s loud, clear laughter.

\--

“God, I could use some coffee.”

“Get it yourself.”

“Stiles!”

Stiles sighs and looks at his boyfriend who’s sitting on the couch with his broken leg resting on a pillow. He rolls his eyes but gets up nevertheless.

“I can’t wait for that leg of yours to heal so you can get your own freaking coffee,” he tells him as he heads into the kitchen.

“Love you,” Derek tells him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Stiles mutters.

In the kitchen he finds his father reading the newspaper while he hums along to the latest One Direction song.

“Anymore coffee?” Stiles asks.

“Drank it all,” the sheriff confesses.

“Jesus,” Stiles mutters and sets to make some more.

“Derek?” the sheriff chuckles.

“Of course, who else?” Stiles mumbles.

The sheriff laughs. “He got you running.”

Stiles agrees with a loud sigh. The sheriff gets up from the chair and stands next to his son. He puts a hand on his shoulder. He gives Stiles his best smile. “I’m happy for you two, you know that?”

“You mention it every morning, I think I know,” Stiles says with another eye-roll.

“Melissa, too, she’s very happy – “

“Yeah, yeah, everyone’s happy,” Stiles sighs, “except me because I can’t find the – ah, there it is.”

The sheriff chuckles once more and ruffles his son hair. “Good to see you actually help out around here.”

“Watch it, old man,” Stiles warns him. “I’ll tell Melissa about the stack of candy you have hidden in your car.”

“You would never,” the sheriff growls.

Stiles just smirks. “Test me.”

The sheriff holds up his hands in surrender before he leaves the kitchen.

Stiles watches him and the smile on his lips only grows.

Until Derek shouts from the living-room: “Coffee, please!”

And Stiles shouts back: “I’m coming, I’m coming.”

And Scott, from upstairs, decides to chime in: “That’s what you said yesterday!”

And they hear the sheriff choke on his own spit.

**Author's Note:**

> As always unbetead and all that. Sorry for the mistakes, you know I suck. Anyways, thank you for reading! And a special thank you to all of you who've read all of the works in this series! I love you and your kind words, you are amazing! I don't have another one-shot in mind right now and I can't tell you when I'll update next. So. But until then: Sorry for how angsty this one turned out, I mean, wow, hope you're all okay (i'm not).


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